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The one element that ﻿I would say should absolutely be done at any COH is the Eagle charge﻿, administered by another Eagle.

I'm not against charges, but there is no official charge. The charge is whatever one wants to make it. I like the idea of another Eagle scout giving the new Eagle scout a charge: "... I charge you to undertake your citizenship with a solemn dedication. ... " Like what you have above.

On a personal note, I just have never liked the adhoc repeat-after-me pledges. It just seems a bit over-the-top. My view is that the scout oath and law are official. The Nicene Creed is official for my church. The Pledge Of Allegiance is official for our country.

"for me" ... pledges are pretty serious things. To adhoc create on the whim just seems wrong to me.

It's me. 99% of the scouters are fine with eagle charge repeat-after-me pledges

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If any of my sons earn Eagle, it will be interesting to see what they want for Court of Honor. I can see my oldest wanting something short, short, short and sweet. The other two might like the pomp and circumstance. As I progress towards Wood Badge completion and hopefully, beading, I have to decide if I want something short and small, or invite a lot of people from WB class. It's nearly the same thing as COH and I can see pros and cons of going bigger or smaller.

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If any of my sons earn Eagle, it will be interesting to see what they want for Court of Honor. I can see my oldest wanting something short, short, short and sweet. The other two might like the pomp and circumstance. As I progress towards Wood Badge completion and hopefully, beading, I have to decide if I want something short and small, or invite a lot of people from WB class. It's nearly the same thing as COH and I can see pros and cons of going bigger or smaller.

My preference with WB beading. Unless you're the Scoutmaster I don't recommend getting beaded in front of your troop. It can be long, and the boys won't care. I got mine at our Council Wood Badge dinner, with my patrol, course and friends from around the council, and saved my Scouts from the long winded agony of my Wood Badge course director.

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When I was a bumbling, unmotivated Tenderfoot, I witnessed a scout receiving his medal at the end of a regularly scheduled troop court of honor. All of the merit badges earned at summer camp were presented (but none for me--I went but didn't earn any that year). Then the ranks...Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class. Fair amount of scouts went up and collected their new patch. Star...Life...only a couple of those.

Then the new Eagle was called forward. The lights were dimmed. SM had some meaningful words. Medal pinned on scout. Mom's pin presented. New Eagle said a few words.

Ten minutes max.

No "Eagle Charge." No "marked man" recitation by the MC. No guest speaker. No form letters with stamped signatures from dignitaries. None of that stuff was needed. That ceremony was so meaningful I can clearly recall many of the little details vividly 40+ years on.

I understand that this scenario isn't possible for the case at hand. But it could work just fine for others. It certainly bucks the modern trend for the coronation-style Eagle ceremony.

Edited July 27, 2018 by desertrat77

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When I was a bumbling, unmotivated Tenderfoot, I witnessed a scout receiving his medal at the end of a regularly scheduled troop court of honor. All of the merit badges earned at summer camp were presented (but none for me--I went but didn't earn any that year). Then the ranks...Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class. Fair amount of scouts went up and collected their new patch. Star...Life...only a couple of those.

Then the new Eagle was called forward. The lights were dimmed. SM had some meaningful words. Medal pinned on scout. Mom's pin presented. New Eagle said a few words.

Ten minutes max.

No "Eagle Charge." No "marked man" recitation by th﻿e MC. No guest speaker. No form letters with stamped signatures from dignitaries. None of that stuff was needed. That ceremony was so meaningful I can clearly recall many of the little details v﻿ividly 40+ years﻿ on.

I understand that this scenario isn't possible for the case at hand. But it could work just ﻿fine for others. It certainly bucks the modern trend for the coronation-style Eagle ceremony. ﻿﻿

Yeah. That sounds like the perfect ceremony. It's one I'd enjoy.

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When I was a bumbling, unmotivated Tenderfoot, I witnessed a scout receiving his medal at the end of a regularly scheduled troop court of honor. All of the merit badges earned at summer camp were presented (but none for me--I went but didn't earn any that year). Then the ranks...Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class. Fair amount of scouts went up and collected their new patch. Star...Life...only a couple of those.

Then the new Eagle was called forward. The lights were dimmed. SM had some meaningful words. Medal pinned on scout. Mom's pin presented. New Eagle said a few words.

Ten minutes max.

No "Eagle Charge." No "marked man" recitation by the MC. No guest speaker. No form letters with stamped signatures from dignitaries. None of that stuff was needed. That ceremony was so meaningful I can clearly recall many of the little details vividly 40+ years on.

I understand that this scenario isn't possible for the case at hand. But it could work just fine for others. It certainly bucks the modern trend for the coronation-style Eagle ceremony.

Thats a wonderful scenario! Thank you for sharing that.

Even that would be ok for my son. Ive never seen the troop ever do that. Its always a ceremony. But I certainly wouldnt mind it

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Thank you so much Wisconsin momma. Its good to hear from another mom out there. This is exactly the problem I have.

Assuming your son is also ADHD, this explains a lot. Not that it's good but now it all makes sense to me. If I'm wrong then please excuse my assumption. Either way, ask your son what he wants. The troop will not put their heart into it no matter what and that's what your son wants. Assuming he is ADHD then he likely poured his heart into getting eagle. Maybe he'd like to go up to the mountains with his friends, have a 10 minute ceremony, and then have a slide show of good memories and a picnic. After all this fuss it will be the best memory and in 10 years from now it will be that much better. That's all that matters, what does he think about it in 10 years from now. All the candles and symbolism doesn't mean as much as the memories of what he did. Celebrate that.

Personally, I don't care for the pomp and ceremony. It's all about memories. The slide show is the best part. Start with with a fat cheeked tiger cub and end with a young man. When I started as SM, and I was asked to talk, I would talk about the meaning of Eagle and the obligation and all that. But I soon changed it to be about the scout. My trail to eagle talk was always about that scout's trail to eagle. I'd sit down and talk to him before and find out the best and the worst and then weave it into a story. There was always funny stuff and I always ended it with some serious stuff.

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I was the first Eagle in my Troop. I inched out a Scout, much younger, who had announced "publicly", that he would be Eagle in so many months (he did the math, so many months required in each rank), which would have made him the first Eagle. Us older Scouts (who had been having fun camping and hiking , not so much worrying about ranks), got together and said "we can't let this happen". So we cooperated with Merit Badge classes, service projects, activity planning. The young Scout was good, but "life happens", and he had family issues and did not meet his schedule. He became the third Eagle in the Troop.

Each of us had a nice CoH. Back then, they were not so gala, mostly cookies and soda after the regular Troop CoH. Nice special candle ceremony, but not over the top as some are today.

For the Troop, thru the Committee, to refuse to officially, publically, acknowledge this Scout's accomplishment borders on the criminal. Either he earned it (thru the regular channels or by appeal ?) or he did not. Either he met and fulfilled the requirements or he did not. The Scout knows, if no one else does. My self effacing Scoutson earned his Eagle, was complimented by everyone who knows him, and he said "naw, don't do anything special". That wasn't sufficient for his family and friends. So, at the tail end of a usual Troop CoH, he had his time in the spotlight, his SM made a speech, his dad made a speech, his mom pinned on his medal, and then we all went outside and ate too much BBQ.

Your Scout needs his time in the spotlight. If you are not too far away, I'd even be willing to come up and speechify some encouragement.

See you on the trail.

Thank you for your response. Yes, I too believe he needs his time in the spotlight. We are located on Long Island. Where are you?

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Even that would be ok for my son. Ive never seen the troop ever do that. Its always a ceremon﻿y. But I certainly wouldnt mind it﻿﻿﻿

We've done close to his scenario several times. We never lower the lights, but we often add a candle lighting or similar. Sometimes it reflects the three parts of the scout oath.

The biggest benefit is the whole troops is there and I think that's the biggest benefit. Too many ECOHs have low attendance because of bad timing or yet another meeting for the week. I think there is nothing better than doing the MBs, then the lower ranks and then a special recognition for the new Eagle scout. All relatively fast and clean.

Plus, all our COHs are pot-luck meals with the spring COH having the troop buy meat and grill outside for the potluck main course.

Edited July 30, 2018 by fred johnson

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I think you need to go to your Council office and see if your son's Eagle was recorded. Here in Florida, the process is BOR, which then sends the App to National. National then notifies the local council, which in turn sends a letter to the Scout congratulating him and inviting him to come by the Scout Shop and get his credentials and Eagle presentation kit, which includes medal and patch.

Then parents can hold a COH anytime they want. You do not need a troop. But you do need to make sure Council has your son recorded as Eagle. In fact, we had a Scout and parents who had some conflicts with the troop and held a COH totally separate from the Troop and at a different location. Only a select few were invited.

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Oh, we did a 60-second COH Monday night before the meeting. Outstanding kid, too. He was headed to college on Tuesday. We called the mother and son up before the whole troop, she pinned the medal on him, he gave Mom the parents' pin and Scoutmaster said a few kind words. And all the Crossovers and their parents were there. Pretty cool, if you ask me. The one time Crossovers were quiet.

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If any of my sons earn Eagle, it will be interesting to see what they want for Court of Honor. I can see my oldest wanting something short, short, short and sweet. The other two might like the pomp and circumstance.

I have a Scout in my troop who has mild autism. He is a great Scout but resisted the idea of attaining Eagle until I explained that he didn’t need to have an ECOH if he didn’t want one. I jokingly told him I could just send his badge in the mail. With the pressure removed of being in the public spotlight for an ECOH, he has now caught fire and is marching steadily forward in a very determined fashion. The whole troop loves this Scout with all his fun quirks.

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I have a Scout in my troop who has mild autism. He is a great Scout but resisted the idea of attaining Eagle until I explained that he didn’t need to have an ECOH if he didn’t want one. I jokingly told him I could just send his badge in the mail. With the pressure removed of being in the public spotlight for an ECOH, he has now caught fire and is marching steadily forward in a very determined fashion. The whole troop loves this Scout with all his fun quirks.

We had a scout with similar concerns. I’m not sure if he was autistic, but he was certainly quirky. Once he learned he could skip the ECOH, he took off. But he kept it very quiet. None of the scouts and only a couple of adults knew he earned it. The SM was invited to a small family only reception at their home.